The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 13, 1902, Page 5

THE SUNDAY CALL. The Man Who Stands FOr the WrathFul FrOwh of Uncle sam. B ve in the or park h or a fence r0rse and horseman heir training. And four Woodworth steps lege of Law to wing there some- d what's what in as to the begl ng of the official There is much stretching of legs, during he first few tes. The United States Lttorney stretches his. The three assist- ints stretch theirs. The chief clerk and be lesser clerks stretch theirs. The sten- ber, being 2 woman, has none. Meanwhile, good-mornings are being eid, and cases for the day discussed, rhile papers are passed about to be read md signed—long, legal-looking wordy, ppe-bound papers that mean little to be layman until thick layers of legal ferblage are cut away. Then comes the mail. Being payday, the pall is of more than ordinary interest. lomshow the envelope marked “Treasury bepartment” is always on top. It is one ¥ those lucky envelopes that do not have P pay fare when they travel and are al- mys sure of & warm reception. ‘With ponderous formality the United Rates Attorney is handed an order on Pocle Sam’s money bags for his $370 90, moeipt of which has been acknowledged Bme weeks in advance. The same amount of red tape is wound around the monthly wage of the three assistants and the clerks and the stenographer. But the unwinding of this tape is the least of their troubles. It is easier to go to work after this Is done. There is other mail. The United States Attorney hears often from the public tell- tale, the person who sees his neighbor cutting timber on government lands, for instance, and runs to tell his Uncle Sam about it. The United States Attorney’s ear is ever ajar for the troubles of Indian agents and revenue agents and postoffice Inepec- tors, land commissioners and all the rest of our uncle’s forces. There are letters from these. There are smugglers to be punished and “THE BOUVIER” NEW THEATER FOR SAN FRANCISCO wm«mwummm.) \ OT since the Baldwin Hotel burned down about three years ago, destroy- ing theater and all, have such remarkable changes in things theatrical in San Francisco occurred as at the present time. The metamorphosis of the old panorama building at Eighth and Market streets into the new Central Theater about a year ago; the reconstruction of Fischer's Music e Tivoll wil ove 2 mpleted gn—part of which is reproduced e home of burlesque only & few months ago; the promised reconstruc- Opera-house within the year; the contemplated transformation Hall into a modern theater the completion of the new theater which that enterprising William Bde, fs now constructing for Alfred Bouvier from liam Curlett, and which, it is promised, will be opened next g a revolution in the amusement world. ich will be located on an L-shaped lot at Ninth and Market gide of the street as the Central Theater and only one ady well under way. The lot has been graded and the founda- in the Immediate future; and e one of the handsomest theaters in America if one may judge from in color in this number of The Sunday orium will be about the size of the old Baldwin Theater, but there case of broad rotunda through which t street to the auditorium. bove these; weater of the West. deed, this entrance to the orchestra, most beautiful features of the new theater. each side of which will be located the gentlemen’'s smoking room and a large, odious and artistically decorated dressing-room for ladies. andsome offices for Mr, Bde, Mr. Bouvier and his executive staff will be lo- but otherwise the whole building will be devoted entirely to er, which will insure a large and perfectly ventilated interior, and one s will lend themselves to the most artistic decoration. , it is, in point of richness of design, as well as for the new system of h will be installed, that the Bouvier will prove its title to be the first- The detail shown in the full-page picture gives a good f what the new theater will look like. nece will cease. The Bouvier will not be a replica of any theater in t, instead, will be & combination of all the latest improvements in dern theaters in America. It will be absolutely fireproof, with special panic or conflagration into Btevenson street at the back of the on Ninth street, where the entrance to the gallery will be located, the main entrance will lead from Mar- dress circle and balcony will be one It will lead through a lobby, (’A@E BZ'F.’)P[ THE U.s @) counterfeiters and people who break pos- tal regulations and Chinamen who can’t read the exclusion act and men who have been caught with their hands in Uncle Sam’s pockets—always some one who does not seem to know how touchy the old gentleman is about having his laws obeyed. These things mean more letters. At first a sense of reckless freedom overtakes one as he comes under the shadow of the bald old brick building down on Sansome, half warehouse, half jall, where Federal justice or injustice— it depends upon the point of view—is dis- pensed. At one step, from street to sidewalk, you pass from under an authority that is big enough everywhere save on the prem- ises of your chin-whiskered, flag-trou- sered uncle. Being so minded, one might commit all the crimes in the city, county or State category, with all the policemen and Sheriffs in California there to see, and not one of these officers of the law could raise a hand to stop him. The loafer on the sidewalk might expec- torate to his heart's content and leer im- pudently at a passing policemar. A picpocket might pay his respects all down the line, from Judge to janitor, knowing that no policeman would answer a call for help. Murder might be committed either with- in the doorway or without and no city or| State officer would have authority to ar-| rest the murderer. Uncle Sam is a law unto himself. Only those who run amuck the constitution of | the United States are worthy his atten- tion and for such offenders, lo, there is a mightier than the common everyday policeman. The lazy loafer may break a city ordinance with impunity, but a scratch on the brick wall could land him in jeil. The murderer need not fear po- liceman or sheriff, but let him beware the_United_States Marshal. Offended, Uncle Sam is stern and relent- less as a Puritan consclence, and he looks to the United States Attorney to give the offender his just dese And so the TUnited States Attorney comes to be the hub in the wheel of jus- tlce. When a law is broken, he starts the investigation, orders arrests, has wit- | nesses subpenaed, juries impaneled and at last arrays the evidence against the guilty one. Those who carry out instruc- tions of the Attorney are spokes of the wheel, and the court itself is the rim. But the wheel can’t budge an inch of [TIHE UNITED STATESO ATTORNEY PRESENTING A | way of looking at it, its own accord. The United States Attor- ney can’t turn around without authority from Washington, and letters from the Attorney General form a goodly share of the pile upon his desk. This, then, is the power that makes the wheel go round. Ten thirty. Perhaps the morning’s mail is answer- ed; perhaps not. No matter. On the clock-tick of half past 10 court opens, the District Court, the Circuit Court, and on this day the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits only three times a year. In the free and easy a(mosphere of the United States Attorney’s office, breath comes easy, and it is well to lay in a good supply before entering the presence of the highest tribunal but one in the land. Promptly on the half-hour stroke a door opens—the door of the robing-room—and three dark-robed, dignified figures march slowly to their places under a dingy, deep red canopy. Every one in the courtroom rises as the door ovens and stends until RCU!T COURT °F APPEALS the “Hear-yez”’ man over in a corner has tapped for order and mumbled: “Hear ye! Hear ye! All persons hav- ing any business to do with the honorable United States Court of Appeals will ncw draw near and give your attention and you will be heard.” It is a bit of medieval England, and in- voluntarily one stands a-tiptoe to see if the honorable Judges are really sitting upon woolsacks, as their English prede- cessors were wont to do. But, no; wool- sacks have gone the way of judicial wigs. All that is left are the gowns and the for- mality and the “hear-yez”’ man. The handful of people settle stiffly on their chairs, fairly chocked with the dig- nity of it, and the court announces deci- sions on cases carried to them by appeal from the lower courts. One need not listen for the word ‘‘af- NITED )/ TRICT, firmed” or ‘reversed.” Just watch the face of the United States Attorney to tell which are for and which ferninst the Government. There was once in particu- lar that he did not look pleased, and that was at the reversal of the case of Tsoi Sin, a Chinese woman, arrested for being In this country without the sanc- tion of her husband’s Uncle Sam. In the District Court the defense put up was that this small-footed daughter of the Orlent, having married Mr. Tsoi Sin, an American citizen, was also an American citizen, which the Judge held was no de- fense. But the honorable Court of Ap- peals refused to separate Mr. and Mrs. Tsoi Sin, holding that whenever a Chi- nese woman, whether entitled on her own account to remain or not, marries an American citizen, be he white or Chinese, she assumes the political status' of her husband. There’s no talking back to the honor- able Court of Avppeals: but there was something In the United States Attorney’s eye that said he did not believe that every Chinaman who is a citizen of this country has a right to go home and on the strength of his citizenship bring back an almond-eyed bride, and that very day he started rolling the little ball of tave that means an appeal to the Supreme Court. In the big) still room with the three solemn Judges sitting beneath the stiff canopy, the voices of those who draw near to give attention and be heard are verry wee and sma’. If the Judges hear them, they are all who do and that is probably because they know beforehand what is being said. Very little of the hon- orable court's time-is taken up by argu- ment. Cases are presented and motions made as though it were something to be got through with in the biggest possible ~ “BABY TALK.” IT IS THE SAME THE WORLD OVER. NE of the things that struck me as being very peculiar when I first be- gan to get acquainted with Oriental languages was the baby talk moth- ers used to their children,” sald a man ‘who has lived for many years in the Far East. ““Of course, being a family man, I knew all about baby talk in my own tongue— indeed, I may say that I had taken a | post-graduate course in the jargon my- self—but somehow it had never occurred to me that people speaking another lan- guage had coined a similar fond nonsense for the nursery, and the discovery that baby talk is limited to no particular race or clime gave me quite a shock. “Why, I nearly had a spasm the first day I heard a Chinese mother croon the equivalent for ‘muzzer’s ittle pet,’ and when I got go I could understand the translation of ‘Didum’s ittie toofins hurt um? I was so astonished that I had to lay off from the office for a whole day to recuperate. “Of course, when you sit down and fiz- ure the thing out in cold blood you find there is no reason on earth why baby talk should not prevail the world over. A baby is a baby and a mother is a mother, no matter where you find her, and it is only natural that the words addrcssed to a youngster should assume a diminutive form. Still, in spite of that common-sense I never quite got used to Oriental baby gibberish, and to this day when I hear Chinese parents talk ‘B'ess um’s ittie heart’ and ‘Was um’s duss ee seetest ittie sing?’ in their own lingo, I want to go behind the door and snicker, for it really does sound funny. “However, the Orientals themselves don’t see anything strange in it, and no matter how many Chinese and Japanese purists stand up and denounce the prac- tice as silly and harmful to the speech of the child, I fancy the mothers will keep on talking just so to the end of the chap- ter. “It's a queer thing, anyway, this baby talk. I know an artist who has spent the past twenty years knocking around over the globe, camping right down in the homes of ‘the people’ for local color. He has a smattering of two-score of lan- guages, and he says that no matter where he Is or how tight a fix he may be in, the minute he hears a word of baby talk he feels safe. “People to whom baby talk comes nat- ural have a mighty comfortable way with them. They make their meaning known with marvelous quickness. A person may be almost wholly ignorant of a’language, but just let some woman start up a string of infantile endearments and the stranger will declare straight off, ‘That's baby talk, all right,’ even though he doesn't understand a word that is spoken. I be- leve that if T were in the wilds of Africa and heard somebody coo ‘Goorely, goore- ly, goo,’ I'd say, ‘That means ‘Ze ittie bittie lamb,” * and sett]e down for a good night’s rest. Verily, baby talk is the uni- versal language of the present day. All honor to baby talk. —_——— “Did Lindsley get that fortune that was left him a year or two ago?”’ ‘No, there were legal complications in the way.” “What sort?”’ “The lawyers took it all. —Cleveland Plain Dealer. ATE{' i < TTO!ZN - A By bEKTflA\S MITH hurry; and sessions of the court are as short as the court is solemn. The ‘“Hear-yez’ man rises and says: “Hear ye! Hear ye! All persons hav- ing had business with the honorable United States Circult Court of Appeals will now depart, for this court stands adjourned until to-morrow.” By this time the daily grind is on in earnest. From court to court the attor- ney hurries, now to present a case, now to note the progress of one being tried by one of the assistants—up to a little court- room under the roof where a TUnited States commissioner serves out cases that are not big enough to go before the dis- trict court except for affirmation. Here a murderer is brought to show cause why he should not be returned to the place of his crime for trial. The attorney presents the case, the Judge reads a jumble of formal verbiage, while the prisoner, flanked by a deputy marshal, listens with a dull, unknowing look in his eyes until the Judge explains that this has really nothing to do with the matter of guil§ or innocence and is only a bit of re&@ tape to be tied around the case before it gets to a court that has jurisdiction over it Meanwhile, down in the district court is another phase of the grind. Here is all the paraphernalia of a trial court, the accused and his counsel, the prosecution, witnesses, jury and the ‘“Hear-yez” mxn.! It is not so still and solemn as the cow of appeals. There is but one Judge and no gown at all. The case is that of a man who, accord- ing to his attorney, thought it a flne “josh” to write compromising letters mn the name of his sister-in-law and inter- cept the replies, which were to be sold to the woman's husband for a thousand dollars. Now, Uncle Sam does not care a rap about the question of honor in a case liks this, though it gives the attorneys some- thing to talk about to the jury. Uncle Sam does not care how many let- ters the man has written, signing the wo- man’s name, nor the nature of them. He does not care that the man's object was to ruin the woman’'s reputation and get a thousand dollars for his pains. These are not crimes in the eyes of Un- cle Sam. The real mistake this humor- ously inclined gentleman made was in securing from a postoffice letters not ad- dressed to himself and opening them with- out the authority of the addressee. Itis & good day’s work in the United States Dis- trict Court to establish this fact and fix a man must pay for such & Twelve o’clock. s on the stand, but ro machinery starts on on the clock-tick. and by the last ted States Attorney's the island of Mar- 1 of go quickly or , for the of the as much a p as the Chief Jus- recess it is a qu ywn two fl r man is One o he wheel begins again. Afternoon e same morning. on in the District,Court: Twe « opens. as RIEADY Fowm a TURN THROVGH TrHE Pacr ar - S 30/AMT. T g s s T and before the Commissioner, Instead of & murderer, it is a Chinaman on the rack trying to prove that he is himself and was born in this country before he went ta live in the third house of the second row inr the village of Ginyoong, in the pro- vinceof Kweichow, and that he slept in a certain room of the third house while his mother and brothers slept in another room and another brother lived in the sec- ond house of the second row. Then he bas to draw a sketch to prove it all and the court decides he is an American citl- zen. These Chinese cases constitute about 50 per cent of the cases shown upon tha big report sheets that go every month to Washington from the United States Ate torney’s office. Four o’clock. The wheel stops for the day, only to Be- gin its monotonous round to-morrow. —_——— Lady (engaging servant)—I ought to tell you that we are all strict teetotalers here. I suppose you won't mind that? Mary Jane—Oh, no, mum. I've beem in a reformed drunkard’s family before!—